What Does Romans 4:23 Mean in the King James?

Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

Romans 4:23 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

What is written about Abraham’s reckoning reaches beyond him and into your life now.

THE MEANING

The written account of what is counted to Abraham speaks beyond Abraham and into your present. His story is not sealed inside his own life; the record carries its meaning to you as well.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that what is counted to Abraham belongs to his story alone.

THE ROOT

ἐγράφη

egraphē

GROWS FROM

γράφω

graphō

To write or inscribe; to set something into a written record.

“written” in this verse is egraphē. The writing makes the account readable beyond the person it first names. What is recorded about Abraham is not sealed inside his biography; the text carries its reach to you.

ALSO GROWS

graphē: Writing, a written text, or scripture

γραφή

The same word family names the written record through which this account continues to speak.

gramma: A letter or written document

γράμμα

This branch makes the material sense of writing visible: words set down so they can be read by others.

ἐλογίσθη

elogisthē

GROWS FROM

λογίζομαι

logizomai

To reckon, count, or place to someone’s account.

English ‘imputed’ can sound like an abstract label, but ⁨λογίζομαι⁩ (logizomai) carries the concrete sense of counting or crediting. The verse records the alignment counted to Abraham in a way that reaches beyond him.

ALSO GROWS

logismos: A calculation or reckoning

λογισμός

This related noun keeps the accounting sense audible beneath the English word ‘imputed.’

logistēs: A reckoner or accountant

λογιστής

This branch shows the same family at work in the act of keeping an account.

THE PATTERN

What is written in scripture can reach beyond the person named and speak to readers who come after.

This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.

Psalm 102:18 · KJVThe writing is directed toward a generation still to come, carrying its reach beyond the present moment.

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Romans 15:4 · KJVThe verse names later readers as recipients of what has been written.

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

1 Corinthians 10:11 · KJVWhat is written about others also addresses the people reading it now.

THE THREAD

But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

Romans 4:24 · KJV

Romans 4:24 repeats the same verb, ⁨ἐλογίσθη⁩ (elogisthē; reckoned or imputed), and names the ‘us’ who are also counted. Verse 23 says the written account is not for Abraham alone; the next verse opens that reach further.

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